Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-08-12

dented draft upon the alcoholic resources
of the town, resulting in my sojourn i'll
the guardhouse and the loss of my Shout
der straps. | continued with the regi-
ment as a private. however, having moth
ing else to do and being still strong in my
desire to die a soldiers death, until the
expiration of my three months term of
enlistment. when | re-enlisted for three
years, and served after subsequent en-
rollment, each time in different COM
mand, until the close of the war, with
out receiving a scratch.
I'm 1865 l was discharged at jackson,
Miss, and obtained employment in that
town, which at that time it appeared to
me the Almighty had overlooked in the
distribution of his bounty, and remained
three months in the combined capacity of
salesman, porter, and principal and junior
assistant in the only clothing store in the
place, There | was rejoined by my
hereditary luck q WASH born a girl,
you'll remember). and for the heinous
offense of charging only 800 for a S14
suit of clothes | was sllmmarily elected
from the clothing business just as / was
beginning to believe that | had at last
placed my feet firmly upon the ladder of
success.
Remaining in Jackson only long
enough to pack my limited wardrobe in
an old fashioned carpetbag, | took train
on the Southern railroad of Mississippi for
Vicksburg. At a place called Bovina,
eight miles from Vicksburg, the railroad
bridge had been destroyed during the
war, and passengers were transferred
across the Big Black river by stage. cross
ing that dirty little bayou, neither big
nor black, by means of pontoon bridge.
A new railroad bridge was in course of
construction, and. as | felt like stretching
my legs and seeing the country, | walked
across that in preference to the pontoon
bridge. Arriving at about the middle of
the bridge l noticed plank projecting
about ten feet from the outer stringpiece,
its inner end being pushed some five or
six feet under that stick of timber.
walked out to the end of it and sat down,
my legs swinging idly over the water,
and my gaze directed to every point
except the one l should have guarded.
As / sat down l noticed four negro
laborers staggering under the weight
of a piece of timber which they We're
carrying to its place in the structure, but
bestowed no further attention upon them
until l heard them Immediately in my
rear. l was about to look over my
shoulder at them when they dropped that
stick of timber square on the end of the
plank l was sitting ON, and my little car
petbag and l shot about ten feet into the
air, parted company rs each described a
curve and began our descent and disap-
peared beneath the muddy waters of the
Big Black l think l struck the water
first; anyway I'm sure l got out first,
since no authenticated account of the
rescue of the bag has ever come to rly
notice. AS l reached the bank. covered
from head to foot with mud, slime and
the sweepings of the pontOon bridge above,
those four darkies greeted me with a
chorus of laughter as indicative of en- Joy
ment as any sound l ever heard. and
started for the train on the Vicksburg
side of the bridge on a dead run, my
speed being accelerated more by desire to
escape the darkies mirth than to catch
the train, which | may remark | ddn t
catch by about ten car lengths. Why
that place was called Bovina the Lord
only knows, unless, perhaps, because the
man who named it thought, as | did.
that it was a bully place to get away
from.
There was now nothing left for me to
do but to walk to Nicksburg or wait six
hours for another train, and l wasn't
long in making up my mind to walk.
! The weather was warm, and by the time
l had covered the eight miles my clothes
were dry, but heavens, how dirty! The
investment of 81 brought into requisi-
ton the services of a stout negro boy
and by dint of much rubbing, brushing
and securing | was made to look quite
presentable. / then started for the
wharf boat of the Atlantic and Missis
sippi Steamboat company at the foot Of
Clay street to ascertain the time of de-
parture of the first boat for st. Louis
and was told that the steamer William
R. Carter would arrive from New Or
leans at about O'Clock in the evening
and leave about an hour later. 1t wa.
then about a o'clock in the afternoon
and looked about for some way of kill
ing time until the Carter should arrive
went into the Prentiss house bar, go
a drink and cigar, and, counting my
money, found that had just 1888, sa
down to enjoy my cigar when the ide;
struck me that it wouldn't be bat
scheme to play what money had abov,
my steamboat fare against the bank
Reflection and recollection of the advers
result of most of my former enterprise
of a similar character told me that it wa
a particularly bad scheme, however
and for the time abandoned the pro
ject, l took a walk up the hill AM
down again and tried in every way
could think of to rid myself of the ide'
of risking what little money had, bu
something seemed to tell me that
would win, and / finally yielded to
power l couldn't resist and asked tn
barkeeper of the hotel where / could fin,
game. He directed me to one a shor
distance from the hotel, and in three bet
} had reduced my capital to an amour
} just sufficient to pay my passage, with
out meals to st. Louis. l watched tn
remainder of the deal without playin
until there was single turn left in tn